Apparatus for the removal of water from a swimming pool duct

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for use with a swimming pool having a drain opening on a vertical surface, the apparatus consisting of an open-topped, open-sided enclosure with edges which engage the surface around the drain and with a pump on the interior for removing water.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In those regions of the country where freezing temperatures areencountered in the winter, it is necessary to remove water from thevarious conduits of swimming pools. If this is not done the waterfreezes, expands, breaks the conduits, and may even damage pumps andfilters. Since all of the conduits are pitched toward the openings inthe walls of the pool, the normal practice is to lower the level ofwater in the pool until it is below these openings, so that the waterdrains from the openings into the body of the pool. Once the drainopenings have been cleared, it is possible to insert plugs into theopenings and then refill the pool. Two problems are encountered incarrying out this procedure. First of all, it is a time-consumingprocedure and it wastes a considerable amount of water, particularly inthe case of a large pool. Secondly, and more importantly, while theprocedure is being carried out, the pool wall is unsupported and it ispossible for the pool to be damaged during this period of non-support.Hydraulic ground pressure can act on these unsupported portions of thepool during the draining procedure and can cause the pool walls tobuckle or crack. These and other difficulties experienced with the priorart procedures have been obviated in a novel manner by the presentinvention.

It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide anapparatus for use with a swimming pool to remove water from poolpassages without removing large amounts of water from the pool proper.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an apparatus forpermitting the drainage of water from swimming pool conduits withoutdanger of buckling or cracking of the pool walls due to lack of support.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of anapparatus for a pool-draining procedure, which apparatus is simple inconstruction, which is inexpensive to manufacture, and which is capableof a long life of useful service without the need for maintenance.

It is another object of the instant invention to provide an apparatusfor carrying out a method of draining pool passages without atime-consuming and wasteful removal of a large portion of the poolcontents.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of an apparatusincluding a box-like barrier for isolating swimming pool drains from themain body of water in the pool.

With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of partsset forth in the specification and covered by the claims appendedhereto.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In general, the invention consists of an apparatus for use with aswimming pool having a drain opening located on a vertical surface ofthe pool. The apparatus is provided with a main body consisting of avertical wall of U-shaped cross-section with a bottom wall extendingunder it. The vertical wall has two vertical edges which are spaced tocontact the said surface of the pool on either side of the drain openingand has an upper edge adapted to lie above the level of water in thepool. The bottom wall has a horizontal edge which contacts the surfaceunder the drain opening and is connected at its ends to the othervertical edges. A pump is mounted on the interior of the main body andhas an inlet located adjacent the bottom wall and an outlet extendingover the upper edge.

More specifically, the main body consists of a flat rear wall and twoside walls which extend at right angles to it. The vertical edges of theside walls and the horizontal edge of the bottom wall are provided withan elastomer sealing strip, so that the pump can remove water from theenclosure defined by the main body and the said surface of the poolwithout water leaking back into the enclosure around the contact edges.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The character of the invention, however, may be best understood byreference to one of its structural forms, as illustrated by theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus embodying the principles ofthe present invention, shown in use with a swimming pool,

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the apparatus taken on the lineII--II of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the apparatus when not in use.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring first to FIG. 1, wherein are best shown the general featuresof the invention, the apparatus, indicated generally by the referencenumber 10, is shown in use with a conventional below-ground swimmingpool 11. The swimming pool is provided with a drain opening 12 on avertical wall surface 13. The body 14 of water resides in the pool andthe opening 12, as well as a similar intake opening 15, resides belowthe upper level of the water in its normal condition. From the opening15 extends a conduit 16 leading to a filter 17 and a pump 18. From thepump extends a conduit 19 leading to the drain opening 12. Normally, theconduits 16 and 19 are arranged in such a way that they pitch downwardlytoward their respective openings 15 and 12.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, it can be seen that the apparatus 10 isprovided with a main body 21, consisting of a vertical wall 22 and abottom wall 23. The main body 22 has a generally trough-likeconfiguration with a cross-section in the form of an open, plane figure.It has two spaced edges 24 and 25 adapted to contact the surface 13 ofthe pool wall on either side of the drain opening 12. It also has anupper edge 26 normally lying above the level of the body 14 of water inthe pool. The bottom wall has a horizontal edge 27 adapted to contactthe surface 13 below the opening 12, the edge 27 joining the bottoms ofthe edges 24 and 25 of the vertical wall. In the interior of thevertical wall is mounted a pump 28 having an outlet pipe 31 whichextends over the upper edge 26 of the vertical wall.

The vertical wall 22 is formed with a rear wall 32 which is adapted tolie in spaced relationship to the surface 13 with an upper edge 33located above the level of the water in the pool. The vertical wall 22also is provided with two side walls 34 and 35 which extend from therear wall 32 toward the surface 13. The sidewalls 34 and 35 are providedwith upper edges 36 and 37. These edges are located above the level ofthe water in the pool and are provided with the vertical edges 24 and 25which contact the surface 13. The side walls 34 and 35 are spaced andparallel, so that the edges 24 and 25 lie on either side of the drainopening. The bottom wall 23 connects the rear wall 32 and the side walls34 and 35.

The rear wall 32 has a vertical, plane, inner surface 38 which islocated in spaced, parallel relationship with the pool surface 13. Theside walls 34 and 35 are provided with vertical, plane, inner surfaces39 and 41, respectively, and these are located in spaced, parallelrelationship to each other and at right angles to the inner surface 38of the rear wall. The bottom wall 23 has a plane horizontal innersurface 42.

The vertical edges 24 and 25 of the side walls are straight lines, whilethe horizontal edge 27 of the bottom wall 23 is also straight. Theseedges are provided with a continuous sealing strip 43 which is formed ofan elastomer material and which has a generally oval shapecross-section, as is evident in FIG. 2. The pump 28 consists of anelongated cylinder 44 mounted vertically in a corner between the rearwall 32 and the side wall 34 and is provided with an operating plunger45 extending from its upper end. The inlet pipe 29 extends from thelower end of the cylinder toward the bottom wall 23 and the outlet pipe31 extends from the upper end of the cylinder and is bent over the edge36 of the sidewall 34. In the preferred embodiment, the walls 32, 34 and35 and the pump 28 are formed of a plastic material, such as polyvinylchloride.

The operation and the advantages of the present invention will bereadily understood in view of the above description. By using thepresent invention, it is possible to remove the water from the exits ofthe conduits 16 and 19 and to insert plugs therein without draining thepool. For this purpose, the apparatus 10 is applied to the surface 13 ofthe pool with the upper edges lying above the level of the water, asshown in FIG. 2. The edges 24, 25, and 27 which lie against the surface,are provided with the sealing strip 43 which makes a water-tightconnection therewith. The pump is operated by pressing up and down onthe actuating plunger 45, so that water is removed from the interior andis expelled through the pipe 31 into the main body of the pool. As soonas the level of water in the enclosure is lowered slightly, hydraulicpressure then clamps the apparatus tightly against the pool wall, sothat no water can leak back in. Each conduit drains down into the innerportion of the box when the box is applied to it and this liquid is alsoremoved with the pump. Eventually, the conduits are empty and the userreaches down inside of the enclosure and inserts a suitable plug 20 inthe drain opening 12 and (at a later time) to the drain opening 15. Theapparatus is then removed and, possibly, subsequently applied to anotherdrain. It can be seen, then, that it is not necessary to drain the poolto any great extent. The apparatus is moved around to each of theopenings that need to be drained and is of a large enough design tobracket around any of the openings. For instance, if the skimmer openingis quite large, the apparatus is large enough to reach around it. Inthis way, it can be seen that the pool wall is not left in anunsupported condition, so that it is not possible to have the wall ofthe pool buckle or crack due to that condition. In addition, it is afairly rapid operation to drain and plug the conduits; it can be done ina very short period of time and there is no waste of water.

It is obvious that minor changes may be made in the form andconstruction of the invention without departing from the material spiritthereof. It is not, however, desired to confine the invention to theexact form herein shown and described, but it is desired to include allsuch as properly come within the scope claimed.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new anddesired to secure by Letters Patent is:
 1. Apparatus for use with aswimming pool having an opening on a vertical surface, comprising:(a) arear wall adapted to lie in a spaced relationship to the said surfacewith an upper edge located above the level of the water in the pool, (b)two side walls extending from the rear wall toward the said surface,each wall having an upper edge located about the level of the water inthe pool and a vertical edge adapted to contact the said surface, theside walls being substantially spaced to allow the vertical edges to lieon either side of the opening, (c) a bottom wall connecting the rear andside walls and having a horizontal edge adapted to engage the saidsurface beneath the opening, (d) a pump mounted on the interior of thewalls, the pump extending above the upper edges of the walls, and (e) acontinuous sealing strip of elastomer material extending along thevertical edges of the side walls and the horizontal edge of the bottomwall, the rear wall having a vertical plane inner surface located inspaced, parallel relationship with the said pool surface, the side wallshaving vertical plane inner surfaces that are located in spaced,parallel relationship to each other, each side wall inner surfaceextending at a right angle to the inner surface of the rear wall to forma corner, the pump being mounted in one of the said corners to form arigid structure therewith.
 2. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, whereinthe bottom wall has a plane horizontal inner surface.
 3. Apparatus asrecited in claim 1, wherein the vertical edges of the side walls arestraight, and the horizontal edge of the bottom wall is also straight.4. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the pump consists of anelongated cylinder mounted vertically in the corner between the rearwall and a side wall with an operating plunger extending from the upperend, an inlet pipe extending from the lower end toward the bottom walland an outlet pipe extending from the upper end and over an upper edge.5. Apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein the walls and the pump areconstructed of a plastic material.
 6. Apparatus as recited in claim 1,wherein the walls are formed of a clear plastic.